Author(s): YE, Z., TSANG, W.C.A., CHOY, H.L.A., ZHU, Y., SUM, K.W.R., Institution: THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG, Country: HONG KONG, Abstract-ID: 824

Introduction: Physical literacy (PL) emphasizes the holistic development of an individual, including physical, cognitive, affective, and social domains. Yet few studies have empirically tested multi-domain changes of PL within real-world educational settings after intervention, especially for preschoolers. As part of a novel program named Advancing Movement and Physical Literacy Earlier (AMPLE), this study aims to evaluate the effects of an integrated intervention combining Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) and cognitive challenges on the development of the four domains of PL in young children in Hong Kong.
Methods: 165 preschoolers from five Hong Kong kindergartens were assessed across four arms: (1) Combined Group (FMS + cognitive challenges, n=45); (2) Physical Group (FMS only, n=35); (3) Cognitive Group (sedentary + cognitive, n=40); and (4) Control Group (sedentary only, n=45). Assessments covered four PL domains. Physical: cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), stability skills (SS), locomotor (LM) and object-control (OC) skills. Cognitive: working memory (WM), cognitive flexibility (CF) and inhibitory control (IC). Affective: emotion contagion (EC), prosocial actions (PA), attention to others’ feelings (AOF). Social: social competence (SC); anger–aggression (AA); anxiety–withdrawal (AW). Pre–post changes were analyzed using linear mixed models (LMMs) to test Time × Group interactions, supplemented by paired-samples t-tests for within-group comparisons.
Results: Physical domain: The Combined Group showed the broadest gains, with significant improvements in CRF (d=.67), SS (d=.56), and OC (d=.49). LMMs showed significant Time × Group effects (all p≤.009). Cognitive Domain: The Combined Group demonstrated significant gains in IC (d=.32), with a significant Time × Group interaction (p=.040). Social Domain: The Combined group showed the improvements in SC (d=1.20) and reductions in AA (d=.55) and AW (d=1.07). LMMs showed significant Time × Group effects (p=.024). Affective Domain: The Combined Group exhibited the most consistent improvements, with large effect sizes for PA (d=1.10), AOF (d=.74) and overall affective composite scores (d=1.24). LMMs showed significant Time × Group effects (all p≤.003).
Conclusion: Our findings demonstrated that an integrated intervention combining FMS with cognitive challenges can produce benefits across all four PL domains in preschoolers. This approach was superior to FMS-only or cognitive-only training, yielding moderate-to-large gains in CRF, stability, and object control, alongside significant improvements in cognitive, social and affective competence. These results provide strong early evidence for curricula that intentionally pair physical and cognitive tasks. Such designs could be an effective strategy for promoting PL within early childhood education settings in Hong Kong.